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About the Book

Deaf adults and children, like their hearing counterparts, experience a full range of mental health problems. They develop psychoses, sink into deep depressions, abuse alcohol and drugs, commit sexual offenses, or simply have trouble adjusting to new life situations. But when a deaf client appears on the doorstep of an ordinary hospital, residential facility, clinic, or office, panic often ensues.

Mental Health Care of Deaf People: A Culturally Affirmative Approach, offers much-needed help to clinical and counseling psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, nurses, and other mental health professionals--and to their program administrators. The editors, a psychologist and a psychiatrist, and the authors, leading authorities with a variety of expertises, systematically review the special needs of deaf patients, particularly those who regard themselves as "culturally Deaf," and provide professionals with the tools they need to meet those needs.

Among these tools is an extensive "library" of pictorial questionnaires and information sheets developed by one of the very few psychiatric units in the country devoted to the deaf. These handouts greatly simplify the processes involved in the diagnosis and treatment of people who in many cases are not good readers--for example, explaining medication and inquiring about side-effects. The handouts are reproduced on a CD included in each copy of the book, to enable purchasers to print out and use copies in their work.

This comprehensive clinical guide and its accompanying CD constitute vital resources for all those who seek to provide sensitive, effective mental health care to deaf people.

Reviews

"For anyone who works actively providing mental health service to people who are deaf, this book provides the benchmark by which they can measure success of their labors. For people who administer mental health programs that serve the deaf, this book is one of the most important publications in the past 20 years. If the deafness and mental health professional could have only one book on their bookshelf, this should be it, preferably well-worn, dog-eared, and falling apart from the frequent use made of it." - JADRA

"Mental Health Care of Deaf People makes a significant contribution of exceptionally clear thinking about the intersection of culture and mental health services….they provide a multitude of excellent examples of clinicians doing good work and thinking daily about what they do and why they do it." - Contemporary Psychology

"It is clear that all the authors base their work on sound theoretical foundations….this is a book that managers of deaf services, or general health provisions where deaf people may be present, would be wise to read. In summary, it is a great book to get your teeth into, with a great CD-ROM." - Deafness and Education International

"The editors of this excellent and exceptional book weave a variety of interdisciplinary and culturally informed viewpoints. A remarkable feature of this book is the level of concrete details, including a CD that contained many of the forms and psychosocial rehabilitation tools the Westborough State Hospital uses in working with people who have limited language or conceptual capacities." - Psychiatric Services